Refrigerating apparatus



July 13, 1950 w. GIFFARD 2,515,212

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS A Filed July 24, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WHITNEYGIM-mao HTTcmNs-Y Patented July 18, 1950 2,515,212 V REFRIGERATINGAPPARATUS Whitney Giiard, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Nash- KelvinatorCorporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Maryland Application July24, 1947, Serial No. 763,431

4 9 Claims.

This invention relates generally to refrigerating apparatus and moreparticularly to refrigerators of the household type.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedarrangement in a household refrigerator to prevent condensing of airentrained moisture in the cabinet insulation so as to keep theinsulation dry and effective.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement ina household refrigerator to effect flow of air entrained moisture bydiffusion from the cabinet insulation to a cold condensing surface whichis readily accessible for removal of frost therefrom without need ofclosing down the refrigerating system.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement ina refrigerating apparatus having a two temperature system in which airentrained moisture seeping into the cabinet insulation in the vicinityof the food storage compartment is caused to flow away from theinsulation and freeze out on the inner surface of a freezing compartmentliner.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view with doors open of a refrigerator partly brokenaway and in section, embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the refrigerator taken along theline 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the refrigerator, taken along theline 3 3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, cross sectional view of the refrigerator, takenalong the line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view of the refrigerator,taken along the line 5 5 of Fig. 2:

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatical view of the refrigerating system;

Fig. 'I is a fragmentary, horizontal sectional view of the refrigerator,taken along the line 1 1 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view of the refrigerator,taken along the line 8 8 of Fig. 7.

In the drawings there is shown a household type of refrigerator having acabinet, designated generally by the numeral 28. The cabinet 20 has afood storage compartment 22, a freezing compartment 24 and a machinerycompartment 26. In the present arrangement, -the freezing compartment 24and the machinery compartment 26 are located below the food storagecompartment 22 with the machinery compartment disposed behind thefreezing compartment at one corner of the cabinet. Doors 21, 29 areprovided respectively for closing the access openings to the fondcompartment 22 and the freezing compartment 26.

The cabinet 20 comprises, in general, a sheet metal casing 30, an uppermetal liner 32 and a lower metal liner 34. These liners 32 and 34respectively form the food storage compartment 22 and the freezingcompartment 24;.the liners being spaced from each other and from thecasing 38. Insulation 35 is interposed between the liners 32, 34 and thecasing 30 and isalso inten posed between the bottom and top wallsrespectively of the liners to provide a horizontal, insulation partition31 therebetween. Embedded in the horizontal insulation partition, is ahorizontally disposed baille 38 arranged to prevent air. which may seepinto the insulation above the baille, from passing below the baille intothe insulation around the freezing compartment 24. This baille 38 may bea metal plate or sheet extending to the side and rear walls of thecasing 28 and to the front facing of the partition 35. To insure a fluidtight Joint between the edges of the baille plate 38 and the innersurface of the casing 30, a, cementitious material 39 may be used whichmay be any suitable'joint sealer, such as, asphalt cement.

The refrigerating system includes a relatively high temperaturerefrigerant evaporator 48 for absorbing heat from the food storagecompartment 22 and a relatively low temperature refrigerant evaporator42 for absorbing heat from the freezing compartment 24. In the presentarrangement, the evaporators 40, 42 are connected together in series.The evaporator 40, preferably in the form of a sinuous or serpentineconduit, is attached to and preferably in direct contact with the outersurface of the food storage compartment liner 32 to absorb heattherefrom. Preferably, the evaporator conduit 40 extends. as shown,along the top, rear, sides and bottom walls of the food storagecompartment liner 32. Similarly, the relatively low temperatureevaporator 42, preferably a conduit, is attached to the outer surface ofthe freezing compartment liner 34 in good heat exchange relationtherewith; the evaporator or conduit 42 preferably extending along thetop, sides, rear and bottom walls of the liner 34, as shown.

The above arrangement of the evaporators 40, 42 on the outer surfaces ofthe liners is, of course desirable since more usable space in thecompartments formed by the liners is made available for storagepurposes. However, as is well known, where evaporator conduits aredisposed on outer surfaces of refrigerator liners, the cabinetinsulation is likely to be wetted by condensate of moisture laden airseeping into the cabinet casing and condensing on the cool surfaces ofthe relatively high temperature evaporator and associated liner, thusdecreasing the affect of the insulation. To overcome this objection, Iarrange for flow of air by diffusion away from the relatively hightemperature evaporator 40 toward the relatively low temperatureevaporator 42 and further arrange for the passage of the water vaporinto the freezing compartment 24 to freeze out the moisture on the innersurfaces of the liner 34 where the resultant frost is readily accessiblethrough the freezing compartment door opening for convenient removal,for example, with a warm wet cloth instead of defrosting by shuttingdown the system. To this end, I provide a passage 50 formed by a tube 52establishing communication between the evaporator 40 and the interior ofthe freezing compartment 24 through the horizontal, insulation partition35. The tube 52 is preferably made of low heat conductive material, suchas phenolic plastic. I arrange the tube 52 to extend vertically throughthe insulation partition 35 and fit tightly in a flanged apertureprovided in the barile plate 38 and I seal the joint between the bailleflange and the tube with a cementitious material, preferably an asphaltcement. In order to expedite flow of moisture from the insulation abovethe baille 38 into the freezing compartment 24, one or more passages orchannels 54 may be provided in the insulation 35 in open communicationwith the evaporator 42 and with the passage 50. Preferably, the channel54 extends along the top of the liner 32, down the rear and along thebottom walls thereof communicating with the upper end of the tube 52.Moisture above the baille 38 will pass by diffusion from the insulation35 into and down the channel 54 and will flow through the passage 50into the freezing compartment 24 where the moisture will freeze on theinner surfaces of the freezing compartment liner 34.

In the machinery compartment 26. a refrigerant, motor-compressor unit 58is operatively connected to the evaporators 40, 42 and iS alsooperatively connected to a condenser 60. The condenser 60 is preferablyattached to the inner surface of the cabinet casing 30 so as to use thelarge surface of the cabinet casing to dissipate the heat ofcondensation of the refrigerant. The condenser El! is preferably aconduit arranged in sinuous form extending along the top and rear wallsof the cabinet casing 30. Refrigerant is supplied from the condenser 60to the relatively high temperature evaporator 40 absorbing heat from thefood storage compartment liner 32. Flow of refrigerant to the evaporatoris controlled by a capillary tube connecting the condenser 60 and theevaporator Il). From the other end of the evaporator 40, the refrigerantpasses through a restricting or pressure differential tube B4 into therelatively low temperature evaporator 42 wherein evaporation of therefrigerant absorbs heat from the freezing compartment liner 34. Thedegree of restriction of tube 64 determines the difference intemperatures in the two evaporators. From an accumulator 66, at theoutlet of the evaporator 42, gaseous refrigerant is withdrawn andreturned through a conduit 68 to the motor-compressor unit 58. As shownin Figs. 7 and 8, the restricting tube 64 and the condenser conduit 60extend along the rear inner surface of the cabinet casing 30 outwardlyof the baille rear edge; the cabinet casing 36 having an outwardlydirected oil-set portion 56 to receive the conduit and provide clearancebetween the conduits and the baille rear edge. :The casing oilsetportion 56 may be filled, as shown in Fig. i with a cementitiousmaterial, such as asphalt cement 5l, to seal the opening or jointbetween le conduits, casing portion 56 and the baille As shown in Fig.3, the freezing compartment liner 34 is offset inwardly at one cornerthereof to provide space within the cabinet for the machinerycompartment 26. This provides a compartment 10 of reduced depth at thefront of the cabinet suitable to receive ice trays 12. A metal partition14 may be provided to separate the ice making `compartment 10from theremainder of the freezing compartment, the latter of which may be usedfor the storage of foods, etc. to be frozen.

From the foregoing description, it will be noted that I have provided animproved arrangement in a two temperature refrigerator to cause flow ofmoisture by diifusion from the region of the cabinet insulation around aliner and evaporator so as to prevent wetting of the cabinet insulation.It will also be seen that I have arranged for the moisture in airseeping into the cabinet to freeze out on the inner liner surface thatforms the freezing compartment so that the frost mayY be convenientlyremovedwithout need of shutting down the system.

Although only a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated,and that form described in detail. it will be apparent to those skilledin the art that various modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of theappended claims.

I claim: c

1. Refrigerating apparatus comprising a cabinet having a foodcompartment liner and a freezing compartment liner, refrigerantevaporating means in heat exchange relation with circulating air withinthe compartments formed by said liners, insulation extending around andbetween said liners, a sealing member between exterior surfaces of saidliners to prevent flow of air in the region of said insulation fromadjacent the exterior of one liner to adjacent the exterior of the otherliner, and means providing a passageway extending from the region of theinsulation about said food compartment liner through said sealing memberto the interior of said freezing compartment.

2. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet casing, a, cabinetliner forming a food storage compartment, a second cabinet liner forminga freezing compartment, insulation interposed between said casing andsaid liners and also interposed between said liners, a relatively hightemperature refrigerant evaporator in heat exchange relation with saidAfirst liner, said refrigerant evaporator being interposedbetween saidrst liner and'said casing exposed to air circulating therebetween, arelatively low temperature refrigerant evaporator and disposedexternally of and in heat exchange relation with said second liner, saidsecond refrigerant evaporator being disposed externally of said freezingcompartment to avoid collection of frost on said second evaporator, anair baille disposed between said evaporators and extending substantiallyto said casing and an aperture in said second liner and in said bailleestablishing a communicating path for flow of air from the relativelyhigh temperature evaporator to the interior of said freezingcompartment.

3. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet casing, a cabinet linerforming a food storage compartment, a second cabinet liner forming afreezing compartment, insulation interposed between said liners andbetween said liners and said casing, a relatively high temperaturerefrigerant evaporator attached to the outer surface of said firstliner, a relatively low temperature refrigerant evaporator attached tothe outer surface of said second liner, refrigerant condensing meansoperatively connected to said refrigerant evaporators, a baille memberinterposed between said liners, and a passage through said baille andthrough said second liner establishing communication between saidrelatively high temperature evaporator and the interior of said freezingcompartment.

4. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet casing, a. cabinetliner forming a food storage compartment, a second cabinet liner spacedfrom said first liner forming a freezing compartment, insulationinterposed between said liners and said casing and also interposedbetween said liners, a relatively high temperature refrigerantevaporator attached to the outer surface of said food storagecompartment liner exposed to the insulation, a relatively lowtemperature refrigerant evaporator attached to the outer surface of saidfreezing compartment liner exposed to said insulation, a bailleinterposed between said food storage compartment liner and said freezingcompartment liner extending to the inner surface of said casing, sealingmeans sealing the joint between said baille and said casing, an openended tube extending through said baille establishing communicationbetween said relatively high temperature refrigerant evaporator and theinterior of said freezing compartment, and sealing means sealing thejoint between said tube and said baille.

5. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet casing, a liner withinsaid casing forming a storage compartment, a second liner within saidcasing spaced from said first liner and forming a storage compartment, abaille interposed between said liners extending to the inner surfaceofsaid casing, a refrigerant evaporator on one side of said baille inheat exchange relationship with one of said liners, a refrigerantevaporator on the other side of said baille in heat exchangerelationship with the other of said liners, a conduit connecting saidevaporators, an outwardly directed offset in said casing at said baulereceiving said conduit, and a sealing material sealing the joint betweensaid baille, casing offset and said conduit.

6. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a. casing, a food storagecompartment liner within and spaced from said casing, a freezingcompartment liner within and spaced from said casing and also spacedfrom said nrst liner, cooling means in heat exchange relationship withsaid food storage compartment liner, cooling means in heat exchangerelationship with said freezing compartment liner and disposedexternally thereof, air bailie means between said rst and second coolingmeans, and an air passage through said air baille means and through saidfreezing compartment liner establishing communication between theinterior of said casing and the interior of said freezing compartment.

7. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet casing, an uppercabinet liner forming a food storage compartment, a lower cabinet linerforming a freezing compartment and an ice making compartment, arelatively low temperature refrigerant evaporator absorbing heat fromsaid lower liner and disposed externally thereof, a relatively hightemperature refrigerant evaporator in heat exchange relationship withsaid upper cabinet liner, an air baille cooperating with said lowerliner separating said ice making compartment from said freezingcompartment, a second air baffle disposed between said liners baillingpassage of air in the space between the upper liner and the casing frompassage to the relatively low temperature evaporator, and an airpassageway establishing a path of air flow from the space between saidupper liner and casing through said second baffle and through said lowerliner on the opposite side of said first bailie from said ice makingcompartment.

8. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a food storage compartment liner,a freezing compartment liner, cooling means in heat exchangerelationship with said liners, heat insulation embracing said liners andinterposed therebetween. an air baille member interposed between saidliners baffling circulation of air between the exterior surfaces of saidliners, and an air passage leading from the insulation adjacent the foodstorage compartment liner into the 'interior of the freezingcompartment.

9. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet casing having side andrear walls, an upper food storage compartment liner within said casinghaving a bottom wall, a lower freezing compartment liner within saidcasing having a top wall spaced from the bottom wall of said upperliner, cooling means in heat exchange relationship with said upperliner, cooling means in heat exchange relationship with said lowerliner, said upper liner bottom wall and said lower liner top wall havingrelatively 'inturned flanges partly forming the front edge of a.partition between said compartments, an air baille interposed betweensaid liner bottom and top walls extending substantially from saidflanges to said casing rear wall and substantially to said casing sidewalls. said air baille separating said cooling means from each other,means communicatively connecting said first and second cooling means,and an air passage leading from the region of said first cooling meansthrough said baie and through said lower liner into said freezingcompartment.

WHITNEY GIE'FARD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name, Date 2,133,958 Kalischer Oct. 25,1938 2,411,461 Phillipp NOV. 19, 1946

